Ways Edgar Allen Poe created Tension in the"Tell Tale Heart".

This story is written in first-person, and as a result the reader cannot determine how much of what the narrator says is true making him an unreliable narrator. Suspense is built more effectively when the author uses a first-person point-of- view to help the reader feel involved. Right at the beginning of the story, the reader feels engaged and close to the storyteller by his question: “Why will you say that I am mad?” Though he repeatedly states that he is sane, the reader suspects otherwise from his bizarre reasoning, behaviour, and speech as he is questioning himself. From his behaviour we conclude that he is a mad, tensed and nervous individual that has an obsession with the evil eye. By using first person, Poe was able to show the reader how the narrator feels and was also able to make the reader question themselves as to whether the narrator is mad or not and as result question the facts of the story themselves. The factor that enhances this is that we are given very little information about the narrator. So little in fact that we don’t even know what gender the narrator is, though most people believe him to be man.

Poe uses sound in a very effective way to create suspense and tension in the tell tale heart. When the narrator enters the old man’s bedroom, the ‘hinges creaked’. This is intended to create suspense as the sound generates an eerie atmosphere and is usually associated with old, neglected, abandoned and probably haunted buildings. To add to the suspense it also makes us feel that the house must be extremely quiet to hear such a small sound and we are then unsure if the old man will hear it and wake up. The narrator also hears the beating of the old man’s heart just before the murder and described it as a ‘low, dull, quick sound’. Poe used to create suspense in two ways. Firstly it was to quicken the pace of the story so that we are drawn to find out what happens next and secondly it tells us a bit about the murder. It tells that the murder is probably going to be short and quick, and as silent as possible. The fact that the word dull is used tells that the murder is probably something to do with covering something until it is lifeless. To mark the murder the ‘bell sounded the hour’. This is relating to the hour of death giving us the sense that something is going to happen and it is probably the murder and we are anxious to know how it will end. It also gives out an ominous feeling of doom as the bell calls the narrator into action. Poe’s use of sound also makes us feel like we are in the narrator’s shoes which help’s us create a better visual image and also accelerates the amount of suspense we feel.